James Baldwin's The Fire Next Time

Superior Essays
James Baldwin’s The Fire Next Time consists of two letters. The first letter was entitled My Dungeon Shook: Letter to my Nephew on the One Hundredth Anniversary of the Emancipation and the second letter was Down at the Cross: Letter from a Region in my Mind. The first letter is much briefer than the second. In My Dungeon Shook: Letter to my Nephew on the One Hundredth Anniversary of the Emancipation, Baldwin wrote to his nephew. He wrote the letter five times before finalizing it. He noted his nephew’s face being closely resembling his father, who passed away. His physical appearance also was like his grandfather. He wanted his nephew not to be distraught of what white people said about him. Believing in what whites calling him using …show more content…
He arrived half an hour late to the house because he got lost and he knew when he entered the house, he could not smoke or drink. He felt guilty due to having a pack of cigarettes in his pocket. At the table, the women were on one side and the men on the other. Elijah sat at the head of the table and Baldwin sat to his left. Elijah told Baldwin he saw him on television and wanted to know what he thought of the white devils with him. Baldwin did not think them as devils. Elijah explained why Baldwin did not think of them as devils because of being exposed to white teaching too long and never was taught the truth. According to Elijah, Allah allowed America to exist for so long was because of blacks that live in the United States. Also in the beginning of time, no white person existed. Only blacks existed in the beginning and Allah allowed the Devil to create the white man and then the white woman. White people did not virtue and whites did not have hope. Elijah asked Baldwin on his convictions. He answered that he left the church twenty years ago and he did not belong to any other organization since. He just writes and thinks a great deal now. Baldwin did not care if whites and blacks married each other and he had white friends, but he did not say this to Elijah. Baldwin instead said that he loved a few people and they loved him. Love is more important than color. Elijah had a look of kindness and pity for him (57;

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